


Still Me... The Other Side

by Frin



Series: Still Me [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-20 22:32:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1528079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frin/pseuds/Frin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A spin-off from Still Me... what becomes of the Human Doctor and The TARDIS on return to this Universe when the Doctor and Rose are left in the parallel? Only Seven chapters, just cos...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Doctor sat dripping in the TARDIS mulling over what had happened within the past twenty four hours.

The Universes had been saved and all was settling. But he had lost the love of his life and his best friend in that time. The closest thing to a brother and sister were also ripped away from him. Everyone had left him. He, himself, only a few hours in existence and all he had was the TARDIS.

His mind reached back to the conversation in the wardrobe he had had with his `brother` just a few hours ago.

"You know it's fair. It's my one chance at real happiness. If my suspicions are correct she would outlive you by far. You get the TARDIS, the Universe we know so well. You get all our friends..."

"This is hard on me! I have all these human feelings running through me now... I want Rose." The Doctor in brown looked at him with understanding.

"So do I and I've waited so long. You know the probabilities surrounding her... the timelines. I'll have my forever with her. You'd have, what? Fifty... sixty years? Maybe longer, not much. She would watch you wither away. You want that? Then she'd be stuck on that Universe afterwards and I'd be here."

"But you can't commit to her like I can."

"I will. I'll do anything it takes... bonding if she's willing... marriage even!"

"You?" The Doctor in blue laughed out loud shaking his head.

"You know how deep my feelings lie with her! You're human now... you have the ability to move on. I don't... ever!"

"Half human. I don't want to move on from her!"

"Okay! Fine. I'll go off on my own and leave you there with her! I'll take the TARDIS and I'll have to sort Donna out."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor in blue asked sharply.

"You know what that means... he can't stay like that... she'll die!" The blue suited Doctor sat down on the step heavily.

"I'll have nothing," he said meekly.

"You'll have the TARDIS. You'll have Jack and Sarah Jane, Mickey... you'll have Martha. You can keep an eye on Donna... make sure she remains... ignorant." They both paused for thought.

"I'll be missing a part of me."

"Me too..." The Doctor in brown looked down at the other man with his face.

"Alright, you tell me what the solution is?" A silence hung between them.

"What do you think Rose would really want?" asked the Time Lord.

"I don't know! I just thought we would travel around together, the four of us. I didn't go through the logistics!" said the half Time Lord.

"There speaks the human in you. Rose couldn't cope with that... you know she couldn't!" The man in the blue suit nodded sadly.

The one in brown moved to the rails and pulled out a blue suit identical to the one his double was wearing. He reached back in to the rail and pulled out a brown one like his own.

"It would seem the TARDIS agrees with me," he said quietly. The other Doctor stood up and took off his jacket in resignation.

"You'll find it hard without her," he murmured stroking the corals.

"Yep. I'll miss her... you know the plan, though? Anyway, you need her far more than me..." So they hatched their plot to switch so the Time Lord could slip away to have a life, a long life, with his Rose.

And there he was a few hours later. A half human meta-crisis half Time Lord sitting dripping over the console of his very own TARDIS. He had never felt so alone... nor in fact so cold. He shivered, feeling the dampness of his trousers.

As he left the console room in search of something dry to wear he stroked a coral and was rewarded with a stroke back inside. He felt a slight thrill from it, knowing that she was there for him. It was a comfort. A small comfort. 

If Donna had been able to stay it wouldn't have been so bad.

A picture of Rose picking the other one with a kiss flashed into his head. He shouldn't go there, that was a road to painful to contemplate. He shouldn't imagine what they could be doing right now...

He wandered down the corridor aimlessly forgetting that he was supposed to be changing his damp things. He ended up in the galley. He opened the fridge.

"Beer..." he said out loud and pulled out a six pack of lager. He pulled one from the plastic and popped it open. He put it to his lips and drank from it deeply feeling the cold liquid slipping down his throat and rushing through his system. It felt good.

He picked up a sack of cheese and onion crisps and the other five cans and wandered down to the living room. He slumped into an armchair and flicked on the television. It flickered into life and he proceeded to work his way down the millions of channels until he found something that interested him.

And there he sat watching some car chase movie, drinking beer, eating crisps and still soaking wet.

He woke in the middle of the night freezing cold but burning up at the same time. He stilled and went through his checks. He was running a high temperature.

Oh God! What if he had given himself pneumonia? He only had this one body and it was half human. Much weaker than a full Time Lord. He should have been more careful.

He traipsed weakly up to his room and took off all of his clothes, then he clambered into bed and snuggled under the duvet shivering.

The TARDIS adjusted the room temperature and did her own checks on him. As he slept she made the decision to take him to friends who would help her help him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Did you know that the TARDIS is outside?" asked Ianto as he arrived in the hub on Sunday morning. Jack looked up from the screen he was intently watching.

"Yes... it's been there since about three o'clock this morning," he murmured. Martha and Mickey looked up from the other, until today; empty desks.

"Hi," said Martha with a warm smile, "I'm Doctor Martha Jones."

"How do you do?" he answered primly. He shook her hand.

"I'm Mickey... Mickey Smith..." said Mickey almost shyly.

"Ianto... Jones," he said looking pointedly at Martha. She gave him another dazzling smile and resumed looking at the screen. 

Ianto sidled up to Jack and looked at his monitor. It was fixed on the TARDIS doors.

"Replacements?" he asked quietly.

"They can never be replaced... but we do need staff, Ianto, and I go way back with both of them!"

"How way back?"

"Not like that... if it's any of your business!" Ianto pursed his lips but made no other comment about the subject.

"It's a bloody mess out there!" he muttered.

"Yeah, well UNIT are on it... we've been told to keep out of the clear up. They just want us to keep an eye out for anything alien that might have slipped through... there will be some, bound to be."

"And so you're watching the TARDIS? Have you tried knocking?"

By now Mickey and Martha were standing watching the image on Jack's screen.

"We though we'd leave them to it..." said Jack, not very convinced.

"Don't you find it a bit strange?" piped up Martha.

"Sorry?"

"Well... reunited after years of separation, only to come and park in Cardiff?" Jack and Mickey's eyes met.

"Did you know that that TARDIS thing is parked up there?" asked Gwen as she arrived on the lift.

"Oh for Christ's sake! Come on, let's go and see!"

Jack, Martha and Mickey got on the lift leaving Ianto and Gwen in the hub and went up to the ground. Jack strode purposefully over to the blue box and tapped on the door.

"Doctor?" he shouted.

"Rose?" called Mickey. There was no reply. Martha pulled out her key and unlocked the door. It swung open to reveal an empty console room.

"I don't want to disturb them," murmured Jack.

"Yeah but, there's two of him now and Rose and Donna... they must be somewhere!" said Mickey walking inside.

They wandered into the corridors. The first door they came to was open and it was the Doctor's bedroom.

"Hey Doc! You alone?" Jack addressed the lump in the bed. The Doctor poked a head up weakly and groaned. He was bleary eyed and his stubble growth was so bad he practically had a beard. His hair was more unkempt than ever and his nose was bright red.

"Jesus! What happened to you?" said Mickey. The Doctor coughed and sneezed. Martha ran forward and felt his forehead.

"You're very hot!" she exclaimed and her eyes flashed up at Jack in surprise.

"Yes... so hot... never been so..." he muttered.

"Mickey, he's dehydrated can you get some water and see if you can find some Ibuprofen, please?" she asked, taking over the situation.

"Doctor?" she asked gently.

"Mmmm?" he answered weakly.

"Doctor, what happened, where's Rose?" She pulled out her stethoscope and warmed it in her hands.

"Gone... left her..." he muttered, his eyebrows wrinkled together. Jack looked up sharply.

"Left her? What? You left her where?" Martha was listening to his chest.

"Jack, he's only got one heart beat!" she exclaimed.

"Where the hell is the Doctor?" he demanded and to his dismay the poor man in front of him burst in to tears. Martha put her arms around him and stroked his back as he wept messily into her shoulder.

Jack stood about looking embarrassed, twitching slightly. Mickey came back with a jug of water and a box of tablets.

"I can't find Rose. Where is she Doctor?" he asked.

"He's not the Doctor," said Jack sharply.

"I am! I'm still me! I might be half human, but I'm still half Time Lord!"

"Come on, " said Martha soothingly,"calm down and have a drink. We can go over it all when the tablets have taken your temperature down. You also need a good wash, you reek!" The Doctor looked mortified.

"I'll never get used to all this!" he said weakly.

Half an hour later he was sat up in bed. Jack had made him some soup, or rather had opened a tin of soup and warmed it. He was now washed and brushed. His temperature had come down and he was feeling a bit better.

They all sat in armchairs around his bed and looked at him expectantly.

"Okay, Doctor, from the beginning... " said Jack softly.

"He refused to give up Rose again. I was his key out."

"What? That doesn't make sense!" said Mickey.

"Oh, I think you know something about it, Mickey. Rose is somewhat altered, isn't she?" Mickey looked guilty, but said nothing.

"You can work it out Jack. She isn't normal, not any more..." Martha looked puzzled and Mickey coughed.

"This Dimension Cannon you built... no normal human could possibly..."

"We had a few nasty accidents," said Mickey looking at his hands.

"But Rose was fine?" asked the Doctor. Mickey nodded.

"We just thought we had hit on the right settings until we did some tests... never told her though..."

"I don't understand, " said Jack. The Doctor turned to face him.

"Do you know what happened on the games station, Jack?" Jack stilled and looked at the Doctor intently.

"I died."

"Yes, and Rose immortalised you. She looked into the heart of the TARDIS and became the Bad Wolf. She bought you back." Tears sprung into Jack's eyes.

"But surely that would have killed her? She would have burned?"

"It nearly did... hence my regeneration... I took it out of her... apparently, not all."

"So, is she like me then?" Jack asked.

"No, she's something different, something new. It means Rose Tyler is probably going to be around a lot longer than any of us."

"And he knew this?" asked Jack.

"If I suspected it, then so would he."

"But where are they?" asked Martha.

"He made me leave them there, in Pete's world."

"You left them there? With Jackie?" said Mickey incredulously.

"Even Rose is worth that monster," said the Doctor with a slight grin.

"Not funny," said Mickey, deep in thought.

"He gave me no choice... he played all the cards... broke my heart... only got the one..." All four of them sat in silence contemplating their four broken hearts knowing that the face of the man in front of them was responsible for all of them.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's so not fair..." said Jack finally. All eyes turned to him in question.

"Why?" asked Martha eventually.

"They get each other for... well... forever... I'm stuck here on my own!"

"We're here!" said Martha reaching over and clasping his hand. Jack shook his head.

"I'm here for... for eternity. I'll never end... you'll be long gone." The Doctor and Martha's eyes met as a far off memory hit them both. They said nothing.

"Well, where's Donna, then?" asked Mickey. The Doctor took a deep breath.

"She was going to die..." he said simply but his voice broke giving his emotions away.

"How?" they asked as one.

"A Human Time Lord Metacrisis. Never been done. There's a reason why. Too much knowledge. Her head would have exploded inside in the end."

"But, aren't you one? A Metacrisis thingy?" asked Mickey.

"It's different for me. I'm unique. I'm part Time Lord... she was human."

"What did you do?" This time it was Jack asking.

"I... I had to wipe her memory of everything to do with us. Him... me... you..."

"But what she did!" Jack shouted. The Doctor nodded sadly.

"So, if I see her walking down the street?" said Martha.

"Just walk on by... not meaning to be corny or anything..."

"That's awful!" said Jack, a muscle twitching in his cheek, "she may as well be dead!"

"She sort of is... to us," replied the Doctor.

"Yeah, well how do we know he's telling the truth?" said Mickey. All eyes now turned to him.

"Look at me, Mickey! Why would I? Tell me that! Why would I dump her off with him? Why would I get rid of my best mate and practically my sister? Why the hell would I be here?" There was silence. Donna had played an important role in their lives and it wasn't going to be easy to just forget her.

"It's really important that we don't make contact with her. If she even gets a hint of a memory it could kill her! We will have to check up from time to time and, Martha, I'd like you to make contact with Wilf, her Grandad, so he has someone to contact in case of an emergency. Other than that there's nothing I can do."

"Couldn't he?" asked Mickey. The Doctor looked crestfallen.

"But you are him?" asked Martha tentatively.

"Yep... same memories, same feelings. Still the same me. He couldn't have done any more for her than me. I'm no different. Just that now I'm part human. I've got one heart. Just one life to lead. Jack, I'm going to age!"

"Woah God!" said Jack with an ironic, but almost envious tone.

"I can't believe he let you have the TARDIS!" said Martha.

"A fair exchange... he thought," said the Doctor looking intently at Mickey. Mickey nodded, understanding.

"I wonder if Rose will cope with you without the travelling..." he said, "I mean him..."

"I can't believe that Donna Noble had to end so suddenly. I remember her from my story books as a child. She was legend!" said Jack. They all sat silently brooding over Donna's fate.

Martha pulled a thermometer from her breast pocket and popped it in the Doctor's mouth.

"No regenerating?" asked Jack. The Doctor shook his head.

"Well, what will happen to the TARDIS when you... go?"

"She'll either lie forgotten in some corner and gradually die or maybe I'll find someone to take her on, look after her... someone with time on their hands..." The Doctor was speaking over the thermometer much to Martha's irritation. 

Jack's eyes sparkled. Whether it was with excitement or sorrow he couldn't tell, but it didn't matter.

Martha took the thermometer out of his mouth and inspected it.

"Well, Doctor, what's the verdict?" the Doctor croaked.

"I would say you have a serious bout of man flu, Doctor," she smiled.

"What?" he said sharply. He took the thermometer off her and looked at the reading.

"Thirty seven point five! That's still high!"

"Not for a human body it isn't. Plenty of fluids and bed rest. You'll be right as rain in a couple of days," she grinned.

"And then what?" he asked solemnly.

"Same old life... in the TARDIS," she smiled softly.

"On my own?" he almost whined.

"Never bothered you before... besides you always meet someone..."

"It's different now." He was actually pouting.

"Let's just get you better first," said Jack soothingly, "besides, I think the TARDIS could do with a rest too, she's had a rough couple of days!" The Doctor nodded and pulled back the bedclothes. He stood up.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" gasped Martha.

"Sorry, not used to this body, but I need to relieve my bladder."

"Doctor, you're naked!"

"Oh bollocks!" he said jumping back under the covers.

"Precisely," said Jack with an arched brow and a smarmy grin.

"I'll never get used to this!" he muttered with a blush rising up his neck.

"I could, though," said Jack lazily.

"Stop it!" said Martha who was feeling a bit flushed herself.

"Well leave then!" said the Doctor, "I wasn't joking about needing a... well, needing!"

"I'll go and see if I can find you something to wear in bed!" said Martha scampering off to the wardrobe room.

The Doctor looked at Jack who grinned and turned around to face the wall. The Doctor jumped out of bed and hot-footed it to the bathroom. Jack turned slightly to admire his retreating backside with a grin. Mickey looked at him and shook his head.

"Captain Cheesecake!" he muttered which made Jack grin all the more.


	4. Chapter 4

Martha arrived back carrying a pair of old fashioned stripy pyjamas and a dark blue towelling dressing gown. She seemed to recall him wearing them in the Royal Hope Hospital the day she met him. The day they went to the moon.

"A platoon of Judoons on the moon!" a voice sang in her head making her smile sadly. Life had never been the same since.

He was still in the bathroom when she got back. She tapped on the door and he opened it very slightly so she could pass them through.

Inside the bathroom the Doctor looked at Howard's nightwear and felt the pain re-emerging and stabbing him in his one delicate heart. Reluctantly, he put them on and went out to face the three people who waited for him and who now cared for him most in this world. 

"That's better!" smiled Martha. Jack just grinned.

"Always thought you had a nice ar..."

"...aren't those Howard's?" interrupted Mickey.

"Yeah, never returned them," said the Doctor sitting down on the bed.

"So, what next?" asked Mickey.

"He needs to recover from this cold, then he won't be feeling as vulnerable..." said Martha bossily.

Outside the weather began to spike again. Thunder roared and lightening flashed.

"We should let you get some rest," said Martha, "I'll stay with you in case you need anything."

"No... no... you're fine, I'll stay with him, Martha!" volunteered Jack.

"I'd like Mickey to stay... if you don't mind?" he asked Mickey, who looked surprised but nodded. Both Martha and Jack looked put out, but left them to run through the rain to go back to the Hub.

"Sorry, Mickey, but can't quite feel comfortable around them when they react like that to the naked form. Think they might have ulterior motives."

"Yeah... think you might have something there. What is it with you? Everyone falls for you?"

"Oh Mickey, if I'd known that this is what rejection feels like, I wouldn't have been quite so heartless!" Mickey shrugged.

"Bit rich coming from a bloke who had two hearts at the time!" But he smiled all the same.

"So, now we find ourselves in the same boat... two ordinary men with two broken hearts over the same woman..." said the Doctor.

"So it would seem..." replied Mickey blinking.

"I want to apologise for the way I treated you when all you wanted was to keep her... just like me!" His voice cracked towards the end and Mickey turned away, embarrassed.

"Yeah, well, nuffin we can do 'bout it now," he said gruffly, shrugging again.

"No, there isn't, but now that I have these human feelings I can actually empathise with you."

"What? So you didn't feel loss before?"

"Well, yes I did. But only from my own point of view. Now... well... now I see..."

"The bigger picture?"

"Yes... if I knew how that felt I would have still wanted Rose but I wouldn't have ridden over you quite so rough-shod!"

"It's okay, Boss, Rose knew what she wanted and it wasn't me. She decided that long before any of this, didn't she?" Mickey was trying not to show that he was moved by the Doctor's declaration. He coughed.

"You might find some beer in the fridge if the TARDIS is feeling generous."

"Okay... you want one?"

"Yeah, sure." Mickey got up to leave.

"Oh, Mickey?"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Pop the television and chuck us the remote will you?"

"Yes, boss," he sighed.

Half an hour later the Doctor and Mickey were in stitches watching `Caddyshack` and sipping beer when Martha came to check on her patient. She took in the scene about them and clucked disapprovingly, but the Doctor's uplifted spirits didn't go amiss, even if a large part of it was probably alcohol induced.

"You should be sleeping!" she scolded as she popped the thermometer into his mouth. He absent mindedly let his eyes wander up her body and then caught Mickey's eye. Mickey shook his head and the Doctor couldn't help but grin and shrug his shoulders.

After she had left, instructing Mickey to go to bed, Mickey looked at the Doctor with a wry grin.

"You're gonna get yourself in to trouble with those wandering eyes."

"What?"

"Martha is engaged, Doctor, and from what she's told me you made it perfectly clear to her that you weren't going down that path... you can't flirt with her! She's already giving out messages! And Tom's a big bloke!"

"I wasn't! I wouldn't! Not when I... I love Rose!"

"You were, you could and most blokes often do to try and forget!"

"No! That's.. .morally... I mean... you do not expect that I?"

"Doctor... we usually run with our hormones in this world. What do Time Lords do?"

"Well.. .we... bond... and that's enough!"

"Is it though?"

"Well, after bonding then further intimacy usually follows... but not without true feelings! You don't mean to tell me that you... even when you feel like that about Rose?"

"Oh yes... sometimes I've had to... sometimes, no, often, I've regretted it... but I'm only human!" The Doctor looked so shocked that Mickey laughed out loud.

"What a pair we are!" he smiled.

"A what?"

"Well, you and me. We seem to be a pair... of sorts... make a good team!" The Doctor looked at Mickey thoughtfully.

"Smith and Smith?" 

"Yeah! Anyway, doctor's orders that you get some shut eye... and I'm knackered. Holler if you need anything. Night."

"Goodnight, Mickey." The Doctor sat for a while thinking about what Mickey had said. Human men were a different species. The TARDIS rumbled about him.

"Stop it! It isn't funny... you know I hold you partially responsible for all this! What am I supposed to do now?" The TARDIS gently moved into his head and placed an image in it.

"But she would have! He told me that! There was no other solution!" The TARDIS pushed him a bit further.

"I'll look at it when I'm better, okay?" The lights dimmed and the Doctor burrowed himself in to his bed and made himself comfortable. The beer eased him into a heavy and much needed sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

It was very late and Wilf woke with a start. Someone was moving about downstairs. He pulled himself out of bed and grabbed his dressing gown. He moved quietly to the door and picked up his cricket bat. Sneaking down the stairs, he was careful to step over the loose riser.

Whoever it was, they were in the dark kitchen. He walked in and snapped on the light. "Donna!"

"Gramps... turn out the light! I've got a blinding headache!" 

Wilf turned out the light and entered the room. "Have you taken anything for it?"

"I was looking for some ibuprofen, but all I could find was aspirin!" she groaned and sat down at the table.

"I might have something in my cabinet... what is it, love... migraine?"

"Dunno... feels like I'm burning up!"

"Think you need a... need to see someone?"

"No, I just need a pill!"

"Why can't you take an aspirin?"

"I'm allergic... aren't I... seem to recall. I am, aren't I?"

"I'll go and see what I've got!" 

Donna rested her head in her hands while she waited for him to return.

Back upstairs and he picked up his phone and dialled the number that he had been given just a few days ago. 

"Is that Martha Jones? It's Wilf... Donna's grandad... yes, sorry to phone so late but I'm worried...it's my Donna, she has a terrible headache, says she's burning up... can you? Please as soon as... I don't want her to... okay, I'll do that!" He clicked down the receiver and found the packet of pills.

"Paracetamol okay?" he asked, arriving back downstairs.

"Should be fine... who were you talking to?" She accepted the tablets and a glass of water from him.

"Nobody... just myself."

"You wanna watch that... you might be going off yer head! Oooo... never had an 'ead like it!"

"Want a wet flannel?"

"No... think I'll go back to bed... they should kick in soon."

"No!"

"What?"

"Wait... wait till they kick in and then go back to bed. I'll only fret if you aren't on the mend!" Donna sighed, her face softening. They sat there quietly for a while until Donna jumped.

"Okay?" asked Wilf in alarm.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what, sweetheart?"

"That noise from the garden... it sounded like... thunder... like the clanging and whining of ancient machinery pushing together. Sounded like a whale caught in a storm. Grandad! My head is going to explode!"

"Donna!" shouted Wilf as she started to shake.

From nowhere, he came, striding behind her and quickly placing his fingers to her temples. Her eyes closed and she slumped peacefully into his arms.

"Is she..?" asked Wilf in horror.

"She isn't dead, but she is in critical danger. I have to take her with me."

"Yes, Doctor," said Wilf, his eyes tearing over but knowing he had no choice. A little woman appeared from behind the Doctor.

"I'm Martha, Wilf, I'm a doctor too. I can assure you she's in the best hands."

"I know Martha... just help her, won't you? Help my Donna!"

 

The Doctor carried Donna straight through to the TARDIS infirmary closely followed by Martha. The TARDIS nudged at him, showing her concern.

"Well, it was your idea in the first place...you have to help!"

"Sorry?" asked Martha, looking shocked at his tone.

"Not you, the TARDIS seemed to think that there was a solution to this all along! I just don't know what it is!"

"Well, we're doctors, Doctor. This is what we do! Donna needs a cure... we have to find one!" The Doctor looked at Martha with a sad smile.

"Come on! Where's your fight? Never give up... what would Donna say?"

"Mad Martha that one... blind Martha! Charity Martha! That's what she'd say!"

"Well, if she did, she was right! I am mad for believing in the impossible... you taught me how to do that! Blind because, despite everything... I believe in you! And charitable? Oh yes! Everytime... goes with the job!"

"Martha Jones... did anyone ever tell you how brilliant you are?"

"That's Doctor Jones, Doctor and yes, they have! However, I rather think we need to concentrate on our patient... how long have we got?"

"She's in a coma... her brain is inactive. That will buy us more time, but too long and she could close down completely."

"Right... so where shall we begin?"

"Martha... I don't know!"

"Well... I was taught to begin with books!"

"Books?"

"Get a grip! Time Lord brain? Are you sure? Yes... in the library... there is so much about your lot! There must be some information on the workings of meta-crisis?"

"We'd better look... Martha, thank you."

"What for?"

"You said you believe in me... means a lot."

"Never could work out why someone would need two hearts anyway... well apart from when your blood was nearly drained from you... and when that witch stopped the one! Come on, lets put our two heads together and see if we can find what the TARDIS knows."

"If she dies... I don't think I could... seen a lot of companions go... but her... she's like my other half. We were born together in a way. Never had a sister before. The TARDIS said I needed her... she knows something."

"Then she'll help us where and when she can!"

"I hope so... I really do..."


	6. Chapter 6

Donna woke up in her room on board the TARDIS. She lay there for a while wondering what on Earth had happened. She felt like her head had been put through a sieve. As her memories swarmed over her she felt an anger rise inside her. She sat bolt upright.

“Doctor!” she bellowed, getting out of bed and looking about for her dressing gown.

The door opened before she had time to find it and the Doctor and Martha piled in.

“You!” she roared launching herself at him and sending him to the floor with a beautifully placed right hook. He sat on the floor nursing his jaw as Martha grabbed her.

“Donna… stop! He thought he was doing the best thing! That it was the only choice and he was wrong! Are you okay? Does your head hurt? Do you feel sick… giddy?

“She’s fine Martha… built like an ox!”

“You calling me a cow?” snapped Donna toeing him in the leg.

“Ow! No, it’s just that you’re very robust!”

“You’re calling me fat, then?”

“Donna, don’t be ridiculous!”

“Ridiculous am I? Wot… it’s not ridiculous to offer someone a fantastic life and then strip it all away from them just because they've downloaded a little too much?”

“He panicked! Thought you were going to burn!”

“Burn? Nearly got me burnt in Pompeii as I recall… but here I am… see… still me… I’m fine!”

“You really are?” he stood up and grinned, rubbing his jaw.

“What did you do?” She turned to Martha.

“We worked out that it would be okay for you to retain your own memories, but that all the Time Lord stuff had to be removed. He went in…”

“Uninvited again!”

“He went in and severed the link completely. You won’t remember any of the overload.”

“Well, that’s a bit bloody simple! Call yourself so brilliant ! You couldn't work that one out quite quick enough could you, Space Boy?” 

“I couldn't on my own, Donna. When Martha says I had to go in it was literal… I had to operate on your brain.”

“Wha’?”

“I had to severe the membranes and seal them away… permanently. There is no way that I would have been able to do that on my own, not in the time I had. You… you would have died.”

“Bloody hell… I've not only had you in my brainwaves, I've actually had you in my brain as well?”

“Yes, that’s why I have to ask you to lie down, you've been through massive trauma and it is risky for you to be upright for too long!” Donna moved to her bed and obediently got in and laid down.

“What about Grandad and Mum?”

“I phoned… they know that you’re over the worst. I’ll take you back as soon as you’re fit enough.”

“You’re taking me back?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Over my dead bloody body!”

“Donna, that’s hardly the right…”

“No way! I’m not leaving here now, not ever! I might not have those Time Lord faculties anymore but you… well, you’re like my brother now! I remember how you felt. So alone… and Martha’s still wearing her engagement ring, so she’s temporary! I’m staying and you can’t make me go!”

“Donna…”

“No! I’m part of you! I know… I know it’s you… I can sense it, feel it… I can hear your heart!” The Doctor looked puzzled and a little alarmed at this. He exchanged a look with Martha and then turned back to Donna.

“I meant that I was taking you back to visit them… I assumed, hoped, that you would want to stay with me.” She stared at him for a while, blinking hard.

“Course I bloody do! Now go away and let me get some sleep… the pair of you!” She rolled over shut her eyes and said nothing more.

They left the room quietly shutting the door gently behind them. They faced each other and grinned widely.

“We did it! We bloody did it!” squealed Martha launching herself into his arms. He picked her up and spun her around.

“Yes we did! My Donna… she’s back!” They pulled apart and stared at each other, then they turned and walked hand in hand back down the corridor towards the console room.

“I’ll stay until she’s up and about and then I have to get back to my life.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you, Martha.”

“Oh don’t! It was interesting working with you and it was you who did it!”

“But you worked it out!”

“Only because you were too busy thinking of too complicated ways to see the obvious!”

“Are you saying that my brain is too big?”

“Practically falling over it, mate!” she giggled and he squeezed her hand.

“It’s been great in a way, us working together!”

“Took your mind off… you know?”

“You can say her name, you know? But it had to really, didn't it? So now, I can resume my travels with Donna on board. Can’t see her ever leaving now.”

“What did she mean she could sense you?”

“It’s probably some residual stuff, but it could be like a misplaced twin-thing, we have some kind of genetic bond now! God, I have some of that woman in me!”

“Shut up, you love it! You know you’ll need a doctor now, don’t you, Doctor?”

“I have one Doctor Jones!”

“But you will remember you’re human now, won’t you?” 

“Part-human, Martha. I will age and not regenerate. Everything else is pretty much the same.”

“I know. Just don’t forget, you’re breakable now, Doctor!”

“But, I always was Martha, I always was...”


	7. Chapter 7

Jack and Mickey were outside and Martha took her place between the two of them, looking to the Doctor with a proud chin stuck out, but unmistakable tears in her eyes.

Donna tossed her fantastic hair back and smiled at Jack. He grinned at her, amused and a little relieved.

“Mickey boy… ever you get fed up of that old boat race, don’t hesitate to contact, will you? You are welcome on board the TARDIS anytime, isn't that right Donna?”

“Mmmmm… and you, Harkness… if ever you feel like a holiday from Cardiff, I could show you a thing or two!”

“Donna!” The Doctor’s voice raised an octave but Jack grinned and winked at Donna, who practically simpered in return.

“Remember, Doctor, you don’t bounce quite like you used to!” called Martha as they began to disappear through the wooden doors. The last she saw of him was a backward glance and a huge excited grin, then the doors shut and in moments the TARDIS had dematerialised, leaving the three amigos standing on the Plas looking like a trio of unlikely tourists.

“And that is that!” said Martha, looking downhearted.

Jack pulled her into a hug. “Time Lord or no, we could never have kept him on Earth, you know that honey?”

“God, can you imagine?” laughed Martha through her tears.

“He would probably take up all our time getting him out of scrapes… cause more problems than any Weevil or passing Anomaly!” added Mickey with a snort. And suddenly the three were laughing out loud and walking arm in arm back towards the Hub entrance.

“He has Donna,” said Martha softly, and Mickey and Jack’s eyes met over her head.

“He certainly does and she’ll always keep him in check!” agreed Mickey.

“It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it!” added Jack as they started their descent.

*******************

On board the TARDIS, Donna revelled in the familiar lurch in her stomach as the ship travelled through the Vortex.

“Where are we off to, Space boy?” she asked, grinning at him across the console.

“Your choice, Earth girl!” he retorted, grabbing a hold as the TARDIS metaphorically rolled her eyeballs and lurched off in her own direction. 

It had come to this, had it? She was now responsible for these two unlikelies? Part-human Time Lord and part-Time Lord Human? Both of them silly and emotional and just a little reckless. Babysitting for her Time Lord for the next sixty or seventy? Oh well, that was one way to be put out to pasture, she supposed. In her corals she could feel that one of her offspring had taken the gauntlet for her and that He was happy. If that was enough for Him then that had to be enough for her.

She pitted again and sent the two lower species onto the floor in two messy heaps. Then with a sigh, she stilled.

“What the hell happened?” asked Donna, picking herself up and glaring at the Doctor.

“TARDIS is a little miffed. She lost patience with us… can’t see why, she IS partly to blame for us!”

“That she is… oh, well, we will just have to tread nicely around her for a while, let her get used to us.”

“Wisely put! Shall we see where she has taken us, then?”

“Why not?” nodded Donna. The Doctor proffered his arm to her and she linked hers through his with a satisfied grin. Together, they walked down the ramp, opened the double doors and ducked as an arrow whizzed past their heads and landed with a ‘thunk’ in the coral right behind them.

“Trouble?” said the Doctor, and Donna nodded with a smile as he took her hand and together, they ran from the TARDIS and into the unknown...


End file.
